


Let's Play a Love Game

by Insipidy



Category: She-Ra - All Media Types, She-Ra: Princess Of Power
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Bad Jokes, Declarations Of Love, Double Dating, Drama & Romance, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Smut, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, F/M, Jocks, Love Triangles, Love at First Sight, M/M, Marching Band, Mutual Pining, Romance, Science Experiments, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Sports, Undercover as a Couple, Unrequited Crush, dad jokes, nerds
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-08-28 13:11:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16724049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Insipidy/pseuds/Insipidy
Summary: "Adora's about to read the scrawled writing of the note she found, when she finally finds her class.Before she can even find a place to sit with her thoughts of this mysterious person who could've written a love note or something are interrupted by Ms.Weaver."Adora, how nice to see you," Ms. Weaver says smiling, "before you have a seat, why don't you head to see Principal Hordak? He said he needs extra help with a student who's behind in her work. I know you're the perfect candidate."She internally sighs at the inconvenience, eager to see what the note from earlier could contain. Mentally she promises she will read it after she's done picking up this student..."





	1. Nice to Meet You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [my girlfriend](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=my+girlfriend).



> Adora's and her friends, Glimmer and Bow, help sort through her feelings for her new moronic, yet charming classmate Catra.
> 
> Catra is faced with the same issues and is floundering through it all with the likes of Scorpia and Kyle.
> 
> More people get involved, as love triangles form and feelings are betrayed all of which are of course accompanied by ever-romantic sea chanties of Sea Hawk. Enjoy trying to find out who will end up with who, I'm writing as (hopefully) the new season progresses ;)
> 
> Hi! Enjoy the commencing of my commitment to this fandom ❤ I want everyone's ship to get a lil somethin'

Adora's beginning to make her way down the corridors, shuffling past numerous faces of way too many beautiful women to count. One in particular nearly knocks her off her feet quite literally, her books get scattered across the floor. Annoyed she looks up, but the culprit slinks off and is gone in an instant. A note is left behind by the stranger, so she tucks it amidst her belongings.

Adora's about to read the scrawled writing of the note she found, when she finally finds her class.

Before she can even find a place to sit with her thoughts of this mysterious person who could've written a love note or something are interrupted by Ms.Weaver.

"Adora, how nice to see you," Ms. Weaver says smiling, "before you have a seat, why don't you head to see Principal Hordak? He said he needs extra help with a student who's behind in her work. I know you're the perfect candidate."

She internally sighs at the inconvenience, eager to see what the note from earlier could contain. Mentally she promises she will read it after she's done picking up this student.

Principal Hordak looks frustrated when a somewhat familiar and smug face pokes out from his dreary office and calls out to her.

"Hey Adora~"


	2. The Who??

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra and Adora finally meet alas and get off to a rough start, that's going to eventually be smoothed out with the guidance of their supportive gay friends (thank god) who are also gay messes :)

Adora walks closer, trying to get a better look at the student she'd bumped into.

Principal Hordak speaks up from beneath his bulky black glasses and grimace.

"That would be the student that's-"  
"That's enough! We're on our way. I'm Catra," she says introducing herself to Adora.

"Wha- Wait how did you know my name?" Adora says dumbfounded.

"Well. You're all the teachers seem to talk about. Even us being the same level of teaching, I guess you're just a people pleaser. I came here before I transferred, took extra classes to be above the game, but yet you persisted in their minds."  
"That's not true," Adora says trying to defend herself.  
"Oh really? Then how come I didn't even have to walk two steps into Weaver's room to be told all about how 'I could learn a thing or two' from you?"

"You're exaggerating."  
"Am not," Catra holds the door for Adora somehow walking in front of her.

"Both of you are late," Ms. Weaver sighs, "I'd imagine this is your fault Catra?"  
"If I say otherwise you won't believe me, so yeah sure, we're late because of ME, Ms. Weeper," Catra says rolling her eyes at Adora with a I-told-you-so-look.  
"Don't be so flippant with me young lady!" Ms. Weaver booms.

Adora winces at the heated reaction of Ms. Weaver. She's never seen her get so mad at someone, especially over such a minut thing. Hurriedly, Adora rushes off to a seat only to discover she's sitting next to this troublemaker Catra.

"You just had to call her Ms. Weeper didn't you? What does that even mean?"  
"It means she cries about me not being a star student... like someone I know."  
"Catra, you don't have to be inappropriate and be so rude to her," Adora says wryly.  
Practically gasping, Catra rumbles, "Me? Rude? She's the one who's acting inappropriately! She yelled at me in front of the whole class for being late which might I add I got most of the blame, even though it's my first day here!"

Catra looks away and sulks for a solid 5 minutes. She looks back to see Adora doodling in her notes.

Catra mouths to Adora to look at her notes for class and is reminded of the one from earlier. Now that she's practically done with this mess, she can move on. Or so she thought.

"Howdy Partner. Glad Weeper stuck you with me?-Catra"

How'd Catra even know she'd be sitting with her? This must be some cruel joke. With a thump, Adora rests her head on the desk. It's going to be a long year, she thinks to herself.

"PSSST. Adora."  
"WHAT!" Adora responds in a harsh whisper, "ARE you trying to get me in trouble?"  
"No."  
"Are you sure?" Adora says, "Because it seems you're already doing it Catra!" she seethes.  
Catra chuckles.

"Okay everyone," Ms Weaver instructs, "Get into groups. You may change groups later in the year if you behave," she says staring down Catra.

"Adora, Glimmer and Bow?"  
"Present!"

"Catra, Scorpia and Kyle?"  
Catra scowls as she's lumped into the grouping of them shout a shrill "Here!"

Adora doesn't know why, but she's smiling while Catra scowls. Stupid! She thinks to herself. She JUST got me in trouble AND she called me a people pleaser! The only person I wanna please- in bed is-- oh no. 

This is bad. Furiously she tries to cover her blush, but her group notices.

They laugh.  
"What happened? Got separated from your partner?" Bow winks.  
"No, it isn't like that," Adora says embarassed.  
"Yeesh, Catra is a handful, how are you going to deal with her anyways? Your marks were so good last year Adora, why is she putting you with her?" Glimmer questions suspiciously.  
"I think it's to help her or something, I don't know. I'm just as confused as you two are," Adora admits.

Bow smiles at her.  
"But she's pretty cute isn't she Adora? And look at Kyle..."  
Glimmer's mouth drops open, "ARE BOTH OF MY FRIENDS ALREADY IN LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT?!?"  
"No, not at all," Bow says waving Glimmer off, "besides, isn't it obvious that group is like totally the bad or clueless kids?"  
"Then what does that make us Bow?" Glimmer thinks aloud.  
"That makes us the Best Friend Squad! And also the cool kids," he says making a kissey-face.

"Perfuma, Entrapta, Mermista, and Sea Hawk?"  
"Here!"

Adora joins in, "and Perfuma and them?"  
"Hipsters-Who-Happen-To-Be-Smart" he says decidedly.

Eavesdropping, Catra revels in her reputation as a bad kid.

"Interesting," she says to her group.  
"You must be Catra! I'm ScorpiaandthisisKyle."  
"I'm Kyle."  
"I said that," Scorpia says.  
"No, you said I'm ScorpiaandthisisKyle."  
"Whatever," Catra says looking across the room at Adora who sure is blushing a lot... she's pret- PRETTY SNIDE, Adora says snapping herself out of it. How dare she say I'm the rude one for speaking up for myself!

"Yeah how dare she," Kyle agrees absentmindedly.  
"You're speaking out loud Kitty," Scorpia tells her.

Fuck.


	3. End Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra learns more about her new friends and Adora basically tries to analyze every more Catra isn't really making.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't updated in a bit sorry! Had a lot on my plate, but really y'all if you comment I'll write faster I swear :')

Around Ms. Weaver's desk the class stands around awaiting her orders.

"Your first task this year is to take the slides of different plants and look at them under the microscope. Draw their simple cell structures, I want detailed drawings everyone okay?"

"Yes Ms. Weaver."

 

They magically re-assemble themselves, working in groups and Catra can't help but notice how Adora is so good at every damned thing she does. If she's going to try and catch up to her in class, she better keep an eye on her.

Even watching her slide her fingers under the microscope, she takes mental notes of everything she's doing so she can do it better. It doesn't help that Adora's dumb friend Glimmer is blocking her which makes her irked. I mean, what's so special about Adora anyways she wonders to herself. 

As if reading her mind, Adora lifts her goggles of her face and stares at Catra from across the room at her table. She murmurs something under her breath to Bow and Glimmer and Bow goes down in a fit of laughter in no time and Sea Hawk goes to assist him in his time of need. Adora exchanges glances with her periodically a couple more times.

"Clock is ticking children!" Ms. Weaver says tapping a pointer at the analog clock on the wall.

But finally as time is nearly up, they lock eyes for more than a second. Catra's heart beats fast. 

Her hands get clammy around the color pencil she has. She refuses to back down from this intense-but-weirdly-hot stare down.She'll be damned if she's about to let Adora get the jump on her again.

"Catra!" Scorpia waves her hands in front of her eyes trying to get Catra out of an Adora trance.

Before Scorpia even says another word to her, Catra's walking towards Adora head-on. Adora's movements cease as she looks up and finds Catra staring down at her drawings. 

"Wow these are pretty good," she says.  
Adora's about to say thank you when Ms. Weaver calls time and in the second it takes to do so, Catra pushes Bow into the other group. He's so out of breath from laughter, he doesn't even fight over staying in the group.

Catra holds Adora's drawings to examine them closer. Ms. Weaver checks off Adora's group, seeing that Catra has the papers with all the finished drawings. Ms. Weaver praises the two saying she knew they'd get along just fine and work good for the rest of the year.

"It's a GROUP project Catra! You can't just swoop in and take all the credit."  
"Well, I just did so..."

Glimmer becomes irate with a visible angry flush emerges from her pale cheeks.  
"Bow's supposed to be in our group. Not YOU."

"Oh really?" Catra says, "Bow seems to be just fine to me, look at him."  
They all turn to see Kyle looking starry eyed at Bow.

Bow even puffs out his chest a little, showing off his shirt which was adorable with a heart in the middle.

Glimmer pouts.

"That's beyond my point Catra," Glimmer says.  
"Now, now," Adora soothes Glimmer, "There's no need to be mad."

And right as Adora says that, Ms. Weaver comes in and says her group did great and their group will be doing it again next time.

"But Catra did nothing!" Glimmer exclaims.  
"Actually, I did do something," it's called making moves.  
"And what was that?"

"I asked Adora to be my study tutor isn't that right Adora?"

Adora gulps and nods, saying she's going to help her the rest of the year. Underneath it all, she's afraid Ms. Weaver would lose respect for if she wasn't helping Catra.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adora's Pov next chap maybe and maybe even some spice for the ladies ;)


	4. Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some moves start to occur as the groups switch up. Jealousy is rampant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLA slow burn hence the tags and there's going to be some angsttttt going on, but don't worry! Everything will come ;) in due time, but since ya girl is a glutton for angst and all things tragic and dramatic I'll probably drag this out so stay tuned! Also happy new years ❤︎

Glimmer watches Catra wearily. She’s worried Adora would fall for such a- a creep. That’s what she is. Yeah. That’s exactly how she feels. That’s it and nothing else.

Does Glimmer have a crush on like the cutest girl in the school- YEAH. She does. Who doesn’t though? She finds that Perfuma, Entrapta, and Mermista all looking over here! Scorpia is eyeing them too?? It’s almost like we’re all gay here. She sighs internally.

 

Chipping away at the project at hand, Catra decides to tease Adora a bit. She’s way too on her game for Catra's liking.

“It sure looks like you know a lot Adora…”

“I guess you could say that. You could probably learn a thing or two if you actually paid attention Catra.”

“If I paid attention? Oh please. I pay attention. Speaking of which you know who’s paying an awful lot of attention?” she laughs, “Your little friend Glimmer over there… she seems a little TOO interested if you ask me.”

Adora looks over to see Glimmer’s eyes immediately dart away.

“But what do I know?” Catra somewhat nibbles on her ear only to whisper “looks like I’m not the only one who’s got a couple things to learn Adora.”

“F-Fine,” Adora stutters, but continues nonetheless, “you’re coming to my house to study this weekend.”

Unfortunately, Glimmer is too busy hating on Catra to know the conversation between Adora and Catra; however, she’s not so busy that she doesn’t see the rosy face of Adora heating up because of something Catra said. She must have a scowl on her face because when Adora turns around to put away the equipment, she asks how Glimmer is.

“Glimmer? Are you okay?”

“Me? What, HA. I’M FINE. Perfectly. Fine,” she says through clenched teeth. I mean Catra seems way too close in Adora’s personal space, but Adora looks like she doesn’t notice or seem to care about it.

“Ok. You’re acting weird. Well. I can’t hang out this weekend. I have to help Catra.”

Glimmer rolls her eyes. This can’t be happening.

She feels a tap on the shoulder as Bow whispers to her.

“So um, I couldn’t help but notice the steam coming out of your head because of how fucking jealous you are.”

“Jealous? I’m not j e a l o u s BOW. You’re obviously imagining things.”

“Oh, so like how you’re “imagining” Catra moving in on Adora?” Glimmer puts her head down as Bow continues roasting her like a marshmallow on a fire, “Both are very real events taking place right now Glimmer.”

“I know…” she groans.

 

Adora and Catra walk side-by-side on their way out of class laughing the whole way. Glimmer tries to ignore the gut-wrenching feeling in her stomach she feels seeing them together. Bow tries to console her by inviting her to a date to which she agrees to since it’s to a really pretty garden nearby.

Meanwhile, during the science experiment, Bow discovers Entrapta concocted a potion that basically made Kyle a certain someone who was the equivalent of a Frog’s prince charming, but instead was a lizard and not a frog.

“Good job Entrapta!” Ms. Weaver praises Entrapta.

“Thank you, Ms. Weaver. Isn’t it amazing? Forget amphibians I think I’m onto something with this reptilian hybrid. They’re just so much better! Look at his scales!”

“Scales?” Mermista inquires. 

“Wow, does he eat plants too? I have a whole garden with vegetables to give him,” Perfuma says.

“Scales?” Kyle says poking him inquisitively. 

“Hey, wait a minute, you want in on our experiment Kyle? You’re not part of our group.”

“Can we keep him? Pleaseeee,” Kyle begs Scorpia and Bow.

“Ok. I guess you can take Scales then,” Mermista says.

The lizard hybrid doesn’t say much and Entrapta parts ways with Scales in favor of making herself a robot friend.

Bow and Glimmer are dumb founded to see Kyle and Scales hitting off. 

“It’s weird…but like…kinda cute? I guess he really IS experimenting with his sexuality…haha. Get it…” Bow says sadly as he realizes his chances with Kyle are slim to say the least now that lizard boy is on the horizon.

“Yeah, you’re right it’s weird, but you know what’s weird? Adora canceling on us! I can’t believe she did that Bow. It’s just not right. What’s going to happen to our best friend squad?” Then the worst thought occurs to her, “What if she likes Catra better than us?”

“I don’t know. But look I’m here for you okay? No one’s leaving anyone behind. It’ll be fine. Let’s go to the garden to take your mind off things Glimmer.”

She sighs, “Okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo I'm tired and gay. There'll be more angst before things get saucy maybe, I don't know? Hope you enjoyed! Might do fanart maybe oh! And if you want content faster leave some comments to motivate me haha. I saw I had some bookmarks so I was like let's go!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! DEFINITELY more to come, maybe with some fanart of mine!
> 
> Feel free to leave a kudos, but especially leave nice comments to encourage me to write because I have no motivation ;)
> 
> You can find me when I reveal my identity as a fanfic writer on this SPOP Discord fandom server: https://discord.gg/c65G2S


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